The Translator's Subjectivity In Feminist Translation Theory

With the appearance of cultural turn in translation studies, scholars begin to cast their eyes over the cultural and political factors that manipulate translation. Translation ceases to be a passive linguistic transfer from one language to another and becomes an active process influenced by such exterior elements as culture, politics, economy and others. With the prominence of feminism, the investigation on translation studies has brought the issues of gender identity to the light of cultural identity. Therefore, feminist translation theory begins to attract the eyeballs of the practitioners in the domain of translation studies.Feminist translation theory is the fruit of the combination of translation studies and feminism with the prevalence of feminist movement. Doubtlessly, when feminism comes into the field of translation, it propels the development of translation studies and enriches its perspective at the macro-level. Under the guidance of feminism, this thesis attempts to survey the hot issue in terms of the translator's subjectivity which arouses so many topics in translation studies. Feminist translation theory emphasizes the translator's subjectivity with its innovative perspective. Traditionally, women and translators are subordinated to the same position because of their taken-for-granted inferior characteristics. While in feminist translation theory, it is entirely different. Firstly, to emphasize the equality between the translator and the author, feminist translation theorists reveal the gender metaphor in traditional translation studies in which translation is compared to the female, and create new metaphors to depict the relationship. More importantly, feminists advocate the symbiosis of the original and the translation. Under the influence of deconstructionism, feminist translation theory refuses to accept the traditional author-centered concept. Instead, it breaks the traditional binary opposition and focuses on the equal status between the translator and the author.Secondly, it reinterprets "fidelity" from a feminist perspective and argues that "fidelity" should be directed according to the "writing project"—a project in which both the author and the translator participate. The writing project emphasizes the collaborative relation between the translator and the author. Moreover, translation is treated as an act of translator's active writing in the writing project. Meanwhile, the term "project" itself is never a fixed regulation or rule that translators must follow. Furthermore, the basis of writing project reflects both the translating process and the product.Thirdly, it regards translation as rewriting to emphasize the female translator's subjectivity. In practice, feminist translators abolish the traditional concept of "invisibility" so as to highlight the subjectivity of the translator by their selection of the source text and choice of translation strategies. They apply their signatures in translations to demonstrate that they have made use of every possible translation strategy to make the women visible in language and their voices heard. It's not difficult for us to see the feminist treason in translating process. And the creative study has brought some new enlightenment to the study of the translator's subjectivity.To make a concrete demonstration of the reconstruction concerning the translator's subjectivity in feminist translation theory, the thesis chooses both a feminist version and a non-feminist version of Shui Hu Zhuan to make a further exploration. As a representative feminist, Pearl S. Buck who was awarded the Nobel Prize, consciously or unconsciously shows the readers her gender awareness. In her version, she applies the feminist translation strategies to eliminate the sex discrimination and criticize the patriarchal system in Chinese feudal society. By making a case study of two English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan, Shapiro's and Pearl S. Buck's, this thesis is in an attempt to make it clear how Buck highlights her subjectivity as a female translator by diverse feminist translation strategies.